One of the problems with non-super superheroes is that they need the resources to compete. Also, the US is an aspirational (as well as an exceptionalist) society. Why did the working class vote for Trump - twice? The man has no idea what being working class is like, yet somehow they feel he speaks for them. I wonder if they're still buying eggs? ;)
Same thing happens in UK with Nigel Farage, even though he is from wealthy background,too. It’s got something to do with dumbing down of society, I fear. Combined with ‘simple’ marketing messages. I think there was more resistance from ordinary people in the past (trade unions etc), but that may be wishful thinking on my part
Thanks! It's well observed. It sounds like some super hero stories do have the Spark. I recall enjoying Stan Lee's early Spider Man stories. The problem is such great stories are surrounded by so many jingoistic establishment stories that it's hard to spot them. I'd still like to celebrate ordinary people as super heroes because their challenges are drawing on reality and issues we all have to deal with. But it's not easy because of the damage super heroes have done to the very word 'hero' equating it with American power. So many of those films were financed by the CIA. But you're right - if the initial Spark is there they can have some value. I recall the real life Super Barrio who defended the rights of the Mexican poor. It's a pity he never really caught on as a concept. Perhaps America needs to be defeated more often as in Vietnam and Afghanistan for audiences to realise its thuggery can be defeated by the under-dog. Sometimes the under-dog doesn't seem much better, but there are exceptions. Greenland, for instance.
While I agree that the superhero has been Archonically hi-jacked, I don't think this makes the genre intrinsically bad. Indeed, if we see a superpower as a metaphor for the Divine Spark within us all, then that makes everyone a potential superhero. It is those souls amongst us who recognise and acknowledge that Divine Spark, allowing it to inform and drive them, who are presented as superheroes (or supervillains).
Spider-Man sticks to walls, that's his superpower, that's how he manifests (metaphorically) his Divine Spark in order to aid his community; just like Martin Luther King and Gandhi used the power of their divine sparks to improve the world, or you write towards the same end.
I think the Captain America films at least try to present the superhero in a more human, less elitist context. Steve Rogers, a sub-par Joe Schmo from Brooklyn, is getting beaten up for defending his principles even before gaining his superpowers, and thereafter is not slow to question or even defy authority. I include the latest Captain America offering in the series, because it touches on the ordinary guy/superhero schism quite well, switching from a super-powered Cap to a super-powerless one. But in the end it all comes down to how both of them use that Divine Spark in their own way to strive for what they believe is right. It's that spark, not how it manifests, that makes the ordinary guy a superhero too. As one of the characters says to the New Cap, "Steve gave people something to believe in, you give them something to aspire to."
I think the superhero genre is just as important a narrative tool as any for exploring the human relationship with self-realisation, and how and why each and every one of us should use our gifts. In a world where most people are only dimly aware, at best, of their own Divine Sparks as they toil within and under the systems of the Archons, oblivious or disbelieving of their own strengths and powers, perhaps it's time to subvert the subverted...
There are a lot of thought provoking points here, I will never see The Avengers or The Justice League in the same light again. You have made them far more interesting than they actually are!
Also that Alien may be the only working class science fiction movie in existence (happy to be proven wrong), “space truckers” as the crew were described. So not only a matriarchal central character but working class too.
& Many other points, some such as self-reliance & individualism very personal to me & my interests. Individualism vs Objectivism fascinates me, I have a pathological hatred of Objectivism. In my lifetime it has represented authoritarianism, from Thatcher to Starmer. Sorry I’ve written too much! You’re engaging my brain.
Deckard & his apartment are decidedly middle-class. Marty McFly couldn’t be any more middle-class if he tried. Johnny Rico is from an affluent family. James Cole, being a prisoner is not related to class. We do not know John Nada’s history all we know is that he is working now, which is basically the same as Sarah Connor, although her mother does have a summer cabin which would suggest she is at least middle class. Roy Neary & Max DaCosta I concede, although I have not seen Elysium. Nothing is endless.
Thanks for the reminder of how many middle-class heroes there are. Can’t wait to get back to Sean Stone who is working class protagonist surrounded by middle-class/upper-class Mi7 officers. I fear it’s about a year away. But maybe less now I’ve ironed some bugs out. That always makes writing so much easier and faster
Sarah Conner - waitress. Rick Deckard - cop who lived in a shithole apartment. Marty McFly - student. Johnny Rico - student turned grunt. James Cole - prisoner. Roy Neary - electrician. Max da Costa - parolee. Nada - construction worker. The list is endless.
Fantastic! Thanks, David
One of the problems with non-super superheroes is that they need the resources to compete. Also, the US is an aspirational (as well as an exceptionalist) society. Why did the working class vote for Trump - twice? The man has no idea what being working class is like, yet somehow they feel he speaks for them. I wonder if they're still buying eggs? ;)
Same thing happens in UK with Nigel Farage, even though he is from wealthy background,too. It’s got something to do with dumbing down of society, I fear. Combined with ‘simple’ marketing messages. I think there was more resistance from ordinary people in the past (trade unions etc), but that may be wishful thinking on my part
Thanks! It's well observed. It sounds like some super hero stories do have the Spark. I recall enjoying Stan Lee's early Spider Man stories. The problem is such great stories are surrounded by so many jingoistic establishment stories that it's hard to spot them. I'd still like to celebrate ordinary people as super heroes because their challenges are drawing on reality and issues we all have to deal with. But it's not easy because of the damage super heroes have done to the very word 'hero' equating it with American power. So many of those films were financed by the CIA. But you're right - if the initial Spark is there they can have some value. I recall the real life Super Barrio who defended the rights of the Mexican poor. It's a pity he never really caught on as a concept. Perhaps America needs to be defeated more often as in Vietnam and Afghanistan for audiences to realise its thuggery can be defeated by the under-dog. Sometimes the under-dog doesn't seem much better, but there are exceptions. Greenland, for instance.
Your work on Marshall Law (and Kev O'neill) was an inspiration for my comics thank you!
I think that superheroes is the way, o a way, Americans like to see or believe themselves.
While I agree that the superhero has been Archonically hi-jacked, I don't think this makes the genre intrinsically bad. Indeed, if we see a superpower as a metaphor for the Divine Spark within us all, then that makes everyone a potential superhero. It is those souls amongst us who recognise and acknowledge that Divine Spark, allowing it to inform and drive them, who are presented as superheroes (or supervillains).
Spider-Man sticks to walls, that's his superpower, that's how he manifests (metaphorically) his Divine Spark in order to aid his community; just like Martin Luther King and Gandhi used the power of their divine sparks to improve the world, or you write towards the same end.
I think the Captain America films at least try to present the superhero in a more human, less elitist context. Steve Rogers, a sub-par Joe Schmo from Brooklyn, is getting beaten up for defending his principles even before gaining his superpowers, and thereafter is not slow to question or even defy authority. I include the latest Captain America offering in the series, because it touches on the ordinary guy/superhero schism quite well, switching from a super-powered Cap to a super-powerless one. But in the end it all comes down to how both of them use that Divine Spark in their own way to strive for what they believe is right. It's that spark, not how it manifests, that makes the ordinary guy a superhero too. As one of the characters says to the New Cap, "Steve gave people something to believe in, you give them something to aspire to."
I think the superhero genre is just as important a narrative tool as any for exploring the human relationship with self-realisation, and how and why each and every one of us should use our gifts. In a world where most people are only dimly aware, at best, of their own Divine Sparks as they toil within and under the systems of the Archons, oblivious or disbelieving of their own strengths and powers, perhaps it's time to subvert the subverted...
There are a lot of thought provoking points here, I will never see The Avengers or The Justice League in the same light again. You have made them far more interesting than they actually are!
Also that Alien may be the only working class science fiction movie in existence (happy to be proven wrong), “space truckers” as the crew were described. So not only a matriarchal central character but working class too.
& Many other points, some such as self-reliance & individualism very personal to me & my interests. Individualism vs Objectivism fascinates me, I have a pathological hatred of Objectivism. In my lifetime it has represented authoritarianism, from Thatcher to Starmer. Sorry I’ve written too much! You’re engaging my brain.
Deckard & his apartment are decidedly middle-class. Marty McFly couldn’t be any more middle-class if he tried. Johnny Rico is from an affluent family. James Cole, being a prisoner is not related to class. We do not know John Nada’s history all we know is that he is working now, which is basically the same as Sarah Connor, although her mother does have a summer cabin which would suggest she is at least middle class. Roy Neary & Max DaCosta I concede, although I have not seen Elysium. Nothing is endless.
Thanks for the reminder of how many middle-class heroes there are. Can’t wait to get back to Sean Stone who is working class protagonist surrounded by middle-class/upper-class Mi7 officers. I fear it’s about a year away. But maybe less now I’ve ironed some bugs out. That always makes writing so much easier and faster
Sarah Conner - waitress. Rick Deckard - cop who lived in a shithole apartment. Marty McFly - student. Johnny Rico - student turned grunt. James Cole - prisoner. Roy Neary - electrician. Max da Costa - parolee. Nada - construction worker. The list is endless.